"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 17 - The Mountains of Brega" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

And it was the next morning when Blade presented himself at theTowerofLondon . The Special
Branch men, clothing as dark as the gray sky overhead, led him to the head of the secret elevator. The
massive bronze doors closed behind him, and the elevator car plunged two hundred feet straight down to
the level of the secret complex below the tower.
This morning J was too busy with his investigations to see Blade off. So Blade walked down the long,
gleaming corridor and through the electronically guarded doors by himself. He heard the clatter of
typewriters and the faint murmur of laboratory equipment from behind closed doors on either side as he
walked. But he met no one until he reached the door to the central complex. There Lord Leighton himself
met Blade.
"Ah, Richard," the scientist said with a grin. "Prompt as usual. I started the main sequence ten minutes
ago, assuming you'd be on time. And I was right. You'd have made a first-class scientist, Richard.
You've got the proper taste for precision."
Blade smiled. "Perhaps. But I don't think I have some of the other gifts." Lord Leighton was
unbending more than usual, but Blade didn't really feel much like conversation. He was always more or
less on edge as he approached the moment of being hurled into Dimension X. And the attempt on his life
still bothered him somewhat. He lived with danger in Dimension X, but it was a long time since he had
been in any danger here inEngland .
 As always, the ritual of preparing for the journey eased the strain. Blade went into the small changing
room and stripped to his skin. Then he smeared every square inch of that skin with a foul-smelling black
grease, used to prevent electrical burns from the massive jolt of current that would be passing through his
body. Then he knotted a loincloth about his waist. That never did anything to justify the trouble of putting
it on-Blade had always arrived in Dimension X naked as a newborn baby.
Greased and clothed, Blade stepped out of the room and walked across the main computer
chamber. The huge consoles of the computer loomed above him. Their gray, crackled finish absorbed
most of the light in the chamber. At times Blade felt that there was an alien and sinister intelligence lurking
invisibly in those consoles, an intelligence that dwarfed not only his own but Lord Leighton's as well. This
chamber could make a man believe in tales of Frankenstein's monsters and mad scientists.
Lord Leighton would certainly do well enough for the mad scientist. Dressed in his usual rumpled and
filthy laboratory smock, he scuttled about among the consoles, long-fingered hands darting over switches
and buttons, eyes taking in dial readings.
Eventually he was satisfied that his precious and temperamental computers could be left alone for a
few moments. Then he came over to Blade's chair and began attaching cobra-headed metal electrodes to
every imaginable part of Blade's body. By the time Leighton had finished, Blade looked as though he
were being attacked by a rainbow-colored horde of tiny snakes. The wires ran off in clusters into the
computer consoles. Blade sat back as far as the electrodes would let him and relaxed as much as he
could.
He did not have to wait long. The computer flowed steadily and without a single hitch this time.
Minutes later, Leighton turned to Blade with a smile on his face.
"Ready, Richard?"
Blade gave a thumbs-up signal with both hands. Leighton's right hand rose, hovered over the red
master switch for a moment, then descended. The switch came down also, sliding to the bottom of its
metal slot.
As the switch reached bottom, the whole chamber seemed to turn upside down. The stone floor was
overhead, with the chair and computer consoles hanging from it. Beside one of the consoles, Blade saw
Lord Leighton standing motionless, head down, looking like some misshapen, white-furred bat. Far
below Blade's head lay the raw, gray rock of the ceiling.
It seemed to be getting farther and farther away, too. Gradually the grayness below faded away.
Now there was only blackness, with vague, swirling red shapes. Blade could no longer feel the chair
against him or the electrodes on his body, but his eyes told him that he was still hanging head down from
that chair.